Why the Conservative Party needs Rory Stewart

Since David Cameron bailed after the EU referendum the Conservative Party has been clinging onto Theresa May for fear of something worse. That something worse, however, is not so much the larger than life character Boris Johnson, but the knowledge of what happens to the Conservative Party once Boris is anointed Britain's Prime Minister.    

 
   

From a Conservative perspective, that something worse, is a self-inflicted Labour Government, and possibly, no Brexit at all.  

  If Boris Johnson is telling the truth, that he will leave the EU “Come what may”, then a No Deal Brexit is a practical reality.  What could follow is the pro-Europeans in the Conservative Party, backed by the Confederation of Business and Industry and the opposition parties, will threaten a general election to try stop an all-out Brexit. 
    The other option is to pick out another Remainer to replace Theresa May, but choosing someone like Jeremy Hunt, is also a risk for the Conservative Party, because deep down, the leave voters upon which they rely, may leave the Conservatives for a more permanent home in Nigel Farage's Brexit Party.  

Far from being the failure her colleagues have portrayed her to be, Theresa May, in terms of delaying the UK's exit from the EU, for Remainers a least, was a tremendous success, however, the majority in the country expect the Conservatives to deliver Brexit, so their leader has to make that happen and pull us out. 

    So what is the Conservative Party to do?  If they pick Boris Johnson and he sticks to his No Deal guns, then there’ll be an election by Christmas.  On the other hand, if they pick Theresa May’s right-hand man in the Foriegn Office, Jeremy Hunt, the party risks prolonging the Brexit impasse and, at the same time, exacerbate the threat posed to them by the clarity and strong leadership offered by Brexit Party.
    Having not voted Conservative since John Major in the 90s I am perhaps a surprising advocate for Rory Stewart, but, as I see it, it is only he that can square the hellishly difficult dilemma of how to deliver Brexit without collapsing the UK economy, diminishing the country's international status, or dismantling the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.

Rory Stewart is the only Conservative candidate with a chance of achieving a satisfactory Brexit outcome for the British people.  Quite apart from believing that this person actually cares about the big issues, climate change, fairness and wants to overhaul social care, his strategy on Brexit, in the particular parliamentary circumstances the country finds itself, is the only candidate that is able deliver a sensible Brexit.

    So how will Rory do it? Well first, as Prime Minister, Rory Stewart will immediately take No Deal off and Remain off the table. There will be those that will baulk at this idea, imagining that our P.M. should negotiate an International Treaty like a company Sales Director, however, as the last three years have established, trying to do deal with 27 other countries is not easy and to deny this practical reality is to accept further excruciating and damaging delay.   
    Because of the awful inflationary economic consequences of a No Deal Brexit the EU know, as do a majority of the UK's MPs, that a NO Deal is so remote a possibility that it ceases to be the bargaining chip, that all other the other conservative candidates say it is.  In my view, No Deal is not a credible threat and will not work within current international diplomatic circles.

Threatening Germany and France with No Deal may be an effective tactic for the US with its military and economic might, as it may have been for Britain in the 19^thcentury, but it is naïve  to imagine that the UK can negotiate so aggressively with 27 EU countries, with the level of power it is able to wield today. 

    For me personally, the Conservative leadership contest is a win-win situation. If Boris Johnson wins we’ll have a general election and Labour Government a few years sooner, but if Conservatives have the wisdom to vote for a candidate with the brains, negotiating skill and the humility to do a deal with the EU and without condemning millions of our poorest UK citizens to poverty by ushering in a No Deal Brexit, then in Rory Stewart Conservatives should be allowed one more chance to safely deliver a grown-up Brexit deal, and at the same time, do the right thing for Britain. 

Written June 24th 2016 | Brexit could take ten years and might bot happen at all

The forgotten arguments since Boris's hollow Brexit bus.

To make a decision on Brexit MPs have the unenviable task of weighing two incompatible realities:

• Leaving the EU gives back to the UK electorate the right to hire and fire those that govern them.

• Leaving the EU will cause years and years of economic disruption on a scale that we have not seen since the 1920s.

Below: Tony Benn puts the democratic case for leaving the EU

More on the EU:

• Brexit could take 10 years and might not happen at all
• Will the UK ever leave the EU? 
• The European Union IN or OUT

THE EXPENSIVE CRAVAT | Chapter 1

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

Sitting up

 

 

 

 

 

They all sat up, as they called it, an action no doubt fixed in Rachel’s childhood, when sitting up, rather than sitting down, was compulsory.  Joe didn’t want to appear rude, so was sat bolt upright with his chest pushed out as far as he possibly could.

    While Joe waited, his eyes shifted along the oak runway silently counting the receptacles that cluttered the table.  The contents of the red cast-iron saucepan were then transferred to similar vessels perched at regular intervals on ornamental metal trivets.  In time, these spuds and sundry veg’ would find themselves on plates ready to eat.

    Derek had been sitting up for Rachel for thirty years and Natasha, their youngest daughter, for over twenty, but they didn’t seem to mind.  The Peterson family accepted having to sit up straight, and apart from slightly pronounced sternums, were (more or less) free of disability. 

    The wine hadn’t made it to the table yet and was waiting dutifully by the fire.  It was undoubtedly a good one, smooth as wine buffs say - very smooth.  Joe momentarily wondered whether it might be a fruity one, or perhaps possessed a hint of something or other, but he really hadn’t the nose for wine.

    Sat at the top of the table, Derek broke the silence, ‘Fifty pence a bottle in France.’  He then hoisted the bottle to eye level, pointedly examined the label, and in a soft Anglo-French accent, announced the grapes origin and hinted about the quality, ‘Produce of St. Emilion 1982,’ he then added with the softest of sniffs, ‘You can’t beat a good Bordeaux can you Rachel?’  Lowering the bottle to within a half-inch of his not inconsiderable nostrils, the connoisseur emitted a bolder sniff, and after a short pause, concluded, ‘Superb.’

    ‘Do you like Claret Joe?’ Rachel asked politely while Derek tilted the bottle and gave the label another once-over.  Joe, being Joe, knew Claret was wine, but what category it fell into was a mystery.  What he did know, was that if he drank anymore of the stuff, he’d have serious digestive problems later.  

    Natasha was placed sitting up straight next to her father.  Derek and Rachel were desperate for one of each and weren’t best pleased when Natasha came along.  It was such a nuisance having to have the extra child, and right up until the birth, Derek was convinced Rachel would give him a son.  

    It was after Natasha was born that Derek developed his theory: The Origins of Male Offspring.  According to Dr. Derek, the sex of the child was nothing to do with chromosomes or DNA, but personality.  If the parents were forceful enough, the theory went, a male child would be produced.  To Derek, this appeared the truth, and his theory prevailed, but even after their second daughter came along, he was unable to accept the science.  Derek had certainly tried his hardest, but he wasn’t convinced Rachel had put enough into it.  His persistence paid off in the end however, and a couple of years later, an oh-so-determined Rachel, produced Tarquin, and at long last, the Petersons were a proper English family...

Copyright © Anthony Bounds. All Rights Reserved | 1993 to 2023 

Sitting up is Chapter 1 of The Expensive Cravat a 65,000 word comic novel that I am editing for publication in 2023.  Any resemblance between my fictional characters or places mentioned is coincidental.   More on The Expensive Cravat